Weekly Update #93

Editor's Note

So yeah the steampunk contest might be cancelled for this month, but you can still get a taste of automatons and bucking stuffy social mores through Echelon Press' upcoming anthology: Once Upon a Clockwork Tale. Your handsome editor (I'm talking about myself in case you are wondering) has a short story appearing in Clockwork Tale, scheduled to come out this week. All this month I will be giving you updates on the anthology, plus interviews with my fellow authors. I hope you all get a chance to read it and remember feedback is appreciated.

And now the news...

New Release: Inceptio by Alison Morton

Friend of The Update, Alison Morton (author of Sample Something a Little Alternative) celebrated the launch of her new novel last week, Inceptio. Here is a brief description from Amazon in case you missed it:

New York, present day. Karen Brown, angry and frightened after surviving a kidnap attempt, has a harsh choice - being eliminated by government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to the mysterious Roma Nova, her dead mother's homeland in Europe. Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety and a ready-made family. But a shocking discovery about her new lover, the fascinating but arrogant special forces officer Conrad Tellus, who rescued her in America, isolates her. Renschman reaches into her new home and nearly kills her. Recovering, she is desperate to find out why he is hunting her so viciously. Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to spring it...

She has been working hard promoting it. You can catch excepts of it on her blog or watch the book trailer. Amazingly the book has only been available in a few markets and it is already winning awards, such as  'We've Got It Covered' competition. So congrats to Alison I certainly believe all her hard work will pay off...especially when she guest posts on The Update with an article concerning the alternate history behind her universe. In the meantime you can check out some examples of her blog tour to promote Inceptio.

Coming Soon: Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett

A recent author who has caught my attention is David Barnett, whose novel Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl is coming out later this year. Here is a description from his website:

In an alternative 1890, the British Empire’s reach and power is almost absolute, and from a technologically-advanced London where steam-power is king and airships ply the skies, Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world – including the east coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775.

But London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast, where Gideon Smith whiles away his days fishing on his father’s clockwork gearship and dreaming of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, as presented in Gideon’s favourite “penny dreadful” periodical, World Marvels & Wonders.

When Gideon’s father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances, Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work. The writer Bram Stoker, holidaying in nearby Whitby, fears that a vampire from Transylvania is abroad on English soil, but is the dark agency that killed Arthur Smith and his crew even more ancient and foul – murderous, mummified creatures from the shifting sands of Egypt?

Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him in his search for answers, Gideon sets off for London, and on the way rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities.

Looking for heroes but finding only mysteries and unanswered questions, it falls to Gideon Smith to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day… but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire?

The novel has already gained the attention of major SF blogs like the award-winning SF Signal. I feel Barnett is someone we all need to check out.

The Relaunched AH.com Podcast

Another contributor to The Update has a new project. Junior Editor Jake Schenberg, author of Alternative Elections: 1844, has revitalized the AH.com podcast. You can listen to the first episode on YouTube:

Submissions Wanted

FYI, the submission period for The Alchemy Press Books Of ... Astrologica, Pulp Heroes 2 and Urban Mythic ends on 31st March 2013. Meanwhile, PodCastle is also looking for "science fantasy" submissions (sorry, not many details to report other than what you see here).

So get moving and if you need any help writing check out Suzanne Lazear's article on sounding steampunk and Juliette Wade article on creating alternate social and cultural norms in a fictional world.

As always good luck.

Things to do

Only two big events to announce:

March 4-9, 2013: Steampunk version of the Tempest in Fairfax, NZ.

March 10, 2013: Wild Wild West Con II Steampunk Convention in Tuscon, AZ.

May 8-11, 2014: World Horror Convention will be held in Portland, OR. Boo!

And because I am lazy and don't want to write all of this out, go check out Tor's list of steampunk events in the month of March.

Have fun!

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

23 State Mottos (Revised for Statistical Accuracy) at Cracked.

Doors to Anywhere by Norman Spinrad at Asimov's Science Fiction.

Embracing the Impossible: The Fantastical Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Rajan Khanna at Lit Reactor.

Feature: Galen Dara on Illustrating Oz at Oz Reimagined.

FREE EXCERPT: “The Mongoliad: Book Three” by John DeNardo at SF Signal.

Historical Jenga by Steve Newman at Foyles.

Steamfunk by Ray Dean at Steamed!

TOC: ‘Tales of the Wold Newton Universe’ edited by Win Scott Eckert and Christopher Paul Carey at Sf Signal.

Book Reviews

Automatic Woman by Nathan L. Yocum at Thinking about books.

The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis at Falcata Times.

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger at Falcata Times.

Night & Demons by David Drake at Thinking about books.

Sharon Gosling's top 10 children's steampunk books at The Guardian.

Films

Malcolm McDowell straps on a steampunk eyepatch for Cowboys & Engines by Meredith Woerner at io9.

Oscars in an Alternate Universe Where the Academy Loves Sci-Fi by Anna Pinkert at Spin Off Online.

Games

10 Greatest Science Fiction Board Games of All Time by Katharine Trendacosta at io9.

Revitalized Steampunk Saga Edge of Twilight Starts on iOS by Mike Fahey at Kotaku.

Steampunk Cthulhu Playing Cards by Robert C Kalajian Jr at Purple Pawn.

Steampunk Fathom gets Kickstarted by Paul Younger at Inc Gamers.

Interviews

Seleste DeLaney by Steampunk Scholar.

Podcasts

Steampunk R&D Podcast 06: Thomas Willeford Behind the Scenes of Steampunk Reality Television by Austin Sirkin at Steampunk R&D.

Television

Alternate history Sixth Gun finds its Becky by CB Droege at TG Daily.

JJ Abrams is coming back to the small screen by Samantha Henry at Amazing Stories.

Review of Elementary: Season 1, Episode 17 at Thinking about books.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.